Why All-Nighters Don’t Work

By Isabel Whiteley
With exams, deadlines and dissertations sucking up all your time you may think an all-nighter is the answer. Why waste hours sleeping when you could use it to cram more revision in? But it’s not that simple.
Recent research has shown that sleep and memory are related. By looking at chemicals in the brain it’s been shown that we need to sleep to remember stuff later. These chemicals even make you sleepy when you’ve done too much work. This is also why it’s so hard to remember stuff when you’ve not slept. Your body knows what it needs so listen to it.
Downing all that coffee may seem like a way to learn more but from this research it’s actually the opposite. The more time you spend awake and cramming the less information you’ll remember later. Not to mention it’ll seriously mess with your sleep patterns.
What’s the alternative then? Look over all your work and start learning the stuff you’re worst on first. Make sure you concentrate hard as you work and focus. Make time for sleep. If you haven’t time to focus in on everything that’s going to be on your exam don’t panic. This all may sound dumb but if you do that all-nighter you’ll find all that knowledge slipping through your fingers.
If, after reading this, you still think an all-nighter is the answer please don’t do it the night before your exam. As someone who has made that mistake in the past, trust me. It really won’t go well for you, Make sure you rest up, and take care of yourself—good luck!